40,000 years of everything from megafaunal encounters to still living animals to flash floods to pure imagination have left the many indigenous cultures of Australia with a remarkable and heightened sense of a Death World.
Creatures
- The Yara-ma-yha-who is easily one of the most infamous "vampires" the world has to offer. A grotesque fleshy frog thingie, it stalks during the day and targets children with a vengeance. It swallows its victim whole then regurgitates it multiple times, each time the flesh discolored and the blood sipped, until the victim becomes another Yara-ma-yha-who.
- The Yowie. Despite its frankly silly name this creature silently stalked the shores of the Milewa river, devouring whole families while they slept.
- The Dulagal is a creepy Humanoid Abomination with bright red eyes that stalks Mount Gulaga, walking sideways for maximum unnerval level.
- The Nadubi is a grotesque echidna dog man thing covered in spikes (some in its vagina) that stalks and kills people at night.
- The Malingee similarly hunts at night stabbing people with a knife. You can only hear its rattling knees once it is too late.
- The Bunyip. A vicious and demonic Swamp Monster universally feared amongst the Aboriginal tribes that can appear as a beautiful woman or turn invisible according to some legends. But what makes the Bunyip really stand out from other monsters? No one can agree on what the creature actually looks like.
- Burrunjor. Descriptions of it say it is a large scaly predator that stands on two legs with two tiny arms. It is 25 feet in length, and eats large animals, like cattle. Casts of its footprints show it has three toes. Does that sound familiar?
- The Quinkins are spirit-folk from the mythologies of the Yalanji people of Cape York. There are two major tribes; the Imjin and the Timara. Whilst the Timara are largely inoffensive, being more playful mischief-makers than anything, they're still eerie-looking, being impossibly slender figures, tall as trees yet so skinny they can hide in the cracks of rocks or bark, depicted as featureless save for two great staring eyes. The Imjin, in contrast, are fat-bellied, big-eared goblin-like creatures with knobby tails and vicious fangs and claws, capable of leaping a mile In a Single Bound — worse, they hate humans, and like to steal children by luring them away from the safety of the camp and into their own, where they eat them. Fortunately, the Timara hate the Imjin, being very fond of human children, and strive to thwart them. A story of two children who are nearly eaten by the Imjin, only to be saved by the Timara, was adapted into a beautifully illustrated children's book in 1982, and can be seen online
.- There's also the ferocious Turramulli, the Giant Quinkin, a huge, hairy, fang-toothed ape-man-monster with blood-red eyes and a love for human flesh. He also was adapted into a children's book that you can find online.
- There's also the ferocious Turramulli, the Giant Quinkin, a huge, hairy, fang-toothed ape-man-monster with blood-red eyes and a love for human flesh. He also was adapted into a children's book that you can find online.
Gods
- Pretty much all cultures have a God of Evil that sends plagues and nasty insects with the explicit intent of killing all life. Special mention goes to the Gamilaraay Marmoo, who can corrupt people into their worst impulses, and the Tasmanian Rageowrapper just for being associated with Tasmanian devils.
- Bila the sun goddess from Adnyamathanha and Ngadjuri traditions. She's a cannibal that drags her victims with black and red dogs that apparently look like people, burning the poor bastards in her fireplace, the origin of sunlight.
